Latest Networks Articles

Searching for a domain to stream live video in your website?

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:00:50 -0700

Are you trying hard to find a domain provider for your website? Do you want to stream live videos or audio files in your website? There are web hosting providers to offer you the domain for your websites. Some companies also provide you with the facility to stream live video, stream webcams, audio streaming and other media rich contents. With the increase in the number of video sharing sties like YouTube, Metacafe, there also arises the difficulty in uploading the videos in the websites. So to avoid these problems, these web host providers help by storing the videos in their server and give the code for those who like to view the videos.

The websites that are used to host websites with videos streaming on are called as video sharing websites. These websites act as a redeemer for the people with limited web space and are unable to upload videos live or pre-recorded. So, by this facility, videos can be easily uploaded and viewed in blogs, forums and other interactive web pages. Also the viewers do not have to depend on their media software to view the videos. They can watch the uploaded videos whenever required, unlike the traditional system. People can comment, share and even rate the videos by viewing it from anywhere in the world. There are various types of video hosting techniques like Red5 hosting, YouTube Clone demo, Ray media server hosting and many other hosting servers. The Red5 server enables the use to stream webcams, stream live video, audio and all other media rich contents.

Red5 is a dedicated broadcasting live video streaming server which helps streaming directly from your web cam in real time. It is very much used in Video on demand sites with webcam communities as it provides streaming video server capabilities. You can use these Red5 web hosting servers and have live face to face video communication. Some flash streaming hosting services have anti-virus, anti-spam, cPanel, webmail and statistics and many other features. Ray Media Server is server software that allows you to stream live video in any website. Ray Media Server Hosting is the web hosting service done with Ray Media Servers. This hosting service will allow you to create your community site and let the users do video chat, watch videos with flash streaming video, and also to record video. All the accessible video functions can be streamed live with Ray Media Server Hosting.

There are some people who want to have only videos or albums in their videos just like the YouTube or Metacafe. This service of hosting websites only with videos and pictures is called YouTube Clone method. Some website hosting companies provide YouTube Clone Demo services for the people and they can go for the full hosting service if satisfied. Some companies even offer one month free trial offers. So, if you are pleased, you can go for their complete service and enjoy the easier video streaming facilities in your websites. So, now using these video sharing website hosting services, anyone can stream videos, audio files and even pictures in their websites at ease without any hard work.

CCIE Lab Suggestions - Cisco CCIE Home Labs

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:35:21 -0800

Yes, CiscoKits can supply you with all the equipment you need to build your very own Cisco CCIE home lab. Why spend $15,000(after course costs, airfare, hotel and other expenses) on a twelve day Cisco CCIE bootcamp that you will walk away with only a lab workbook and a stack of notes? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to own your own Cisco routers and Cisco switches in your home lab that you can practice with at your leisure for as long as you like with no interruptions? Sure you may be thinking, but I won't be have access to the CCIE lectures or other materials. Well, yes you will and CiscoKits has your Cisco CCIE lab solution for you and it will be cheaper than attending a CCIE bootcamp in person and you will own your equipment! How cool is that? We are going to change the way you approach your CCIE training while saving you thousands of your hard earned dollars!

Cost Effective CCIE Lab Solutions!

This is an especially great solution for companies who want to train their staff to obtain their Cisco CCIE certifications but can't afford to have their top network engineers off-site for two weeks at a time. Additionally, the cost savings of purchasing the kit one time which can be used for multiple employees is tremendous! Instead of looking at $60,000 to get four employees certified, what if you could tell your boss you could setup a lab with all the exact same lectures, lab work books, equipment and resources for $15,000! That averages out to $3,750 per employee for CCIE training! Where can you get hands-on CCIE training for that cheap?

We are proud to offer many different options to fit your budget in building your Cisco CCIE lab. We can offer you all the Cisco routers and Cisco switches to build the exact same topology you would practice on in a CCIE bootcamp. Not only that, but it gets better! We can offer you the same exact lab workbooks you use in the CCIE bootcamps. There are the same CCIE lab workbooks provided by the world famous Internetwork Expert. We have the lab workbooks covering the CCIE Routing and Switching program, the CCIE Security program, the CCIE Voice program and the CCIE Service Provider program.

Now your thinking that is great. You can provide the same exact CCIE equipment topology as the Internetwork Expert bootcamp. You can provide the same exact lab workbooks as the Internetwork Expert bootcamp. But how am I to self study this? I really learn best by lectures and seeing and instructor white board the CCIE materials. No problem! We can also offer to you the exact Internetwork Expert CCIE training you would receive if you were at their location.

We have three different formats that you can select to receive your CCIE training.

CCIE Live Online Class â€“With this option you not only get to participate in the class live and online, but you also be able to watch a recorded version of the very class you participated in with any recording updates. This is better than being there as you can be there again and again and again at your convenience. Also, just to be clear, you will be able to actually participate in the class and interact and ask questions of the instructor. It does not get any better than this!

CCIE Online Class â€“ With this option, you will be able to view online the same 80+ hours of CCIE training as if you attended the course on-site. But for those of you who can't participate in the class for two weeks straight, well this is the option for you as you control the pace of the class. You have total control over how quickly or slowly your complete your CCIE training. All you need is an Internet connection, Adobe Flash Player installed and you are ready to view your CCIE training. You will also be provided with all the course slides for download too. You can watch your CCIE training once, watch it twice. You can pause the class recording to take care of the trash for your wife or better yet to catch the football game. It is in your hands! You can't get much more convenient than this. Also you will have the option for just $200 more to get a copy of the course on DVDs to make it even easier for you to watch and review the course lectures.

CCIE DVD Edition - As you would expect, the CCIE DVD edition provides you the same exact 80+ hours of CCIE training as if you attended the course on-site, via the Live Online option or the recorded Online class. This gives you the added convenience of being available on a set of DVDs. This is great for the frequent traveler who is jet-setting all over the country making the big dollars installing complex Cisco infrastructures. Not only do you get the DVDs, but you will also get free access to the CCIE Online version so if you forget them at home you can still view the training online! As with the other classes, you will also receive a copy of all the slides presented during the training.

With all of the above CCIE training options, you will receive unlimited free updates to the product for as long as you need them!

CCIE Home Lab Kits

Now let's talk a little bit about your CCIE home lab setup. We have partnered with Internetwork Expert to provide you with five choices of the hardware to replicate their exact Cisco equipment topology. So we are sure we will have a CCIE lab package that will fit your budget. As with most things in life, the more expensive the kit, the more features you will be able to exercise in your lab. The really cool thing about these kits is they are applicable to all of their CCIE training lab workbooks. So you don't have to buy additional Cisco routers or Cisco switches to utilize some of their other lab workbooks. Below we will discuss a little about each CCIE lab option.

CCIE Platinum Lab Kit â€“ This kit is the absolute exact topology that you would use if you attended the Internetwork Expert CCIE class onsite. You will be able to do every lab that is in the lab workbook and experience every feature. This is the kit you really want with no compromises! Additionally keep in mind it is YOUR kit to keep and play with for as long as your heart desires! Although you will be the envy of all your networking friends and probably get quite a few new friends after you purchase this kit!

The next four CCIE kits will all have compromised a little in certain areas so we could produce some more economical CCIE kits. We understand that not everyone can afford the most expensive CCIE out there. So keep in mind as mentioned before, the more expensive the kit, the more features you will get to experience in your lab time. We have partnered with Interentwork Expert to create the best kits to experience the most concepts on a tight budget. I do apologize, but we do not have a list of each feature that will not be able to be utilized as the contents of the kits change with stock and curriculum changes.

CCIE Gold Lab Kit â€“ This kit is essentially the same as the Platinum kit without the Cisco 3825 router and Cisco 3560 switches. If you budget is somewhere between these two, ask us as we can modify this kit to possibly include either the Cisco 3825 router or Cisco 3560 switches which ever makes the most sense in your situation and budget constraints.

CCIE Silver Plus Lab Kit â€“ This kit is very similar to the CCIE Gold Lab Kit. However to further reduce the price a Cisco 3550 switch was removed. As you can see the prices are getting pretty close to some of the Cisco CCNP kits so this is a great value for your CCIE studies on a tight budget.

CCIE Silver Lab Kit â€“This kit is very similar to the CCIE Silver Plus Lab kit but the Cisco 3550 switch was removed as were the 2600XM routers. A good kit for a tight CCIE budget that will still cover about 80% of the course topics with hands-on labs!

CCIE Bronze Lab Kitâ€“ This kit is the most economical kit we can produce for the Cisco CCIE training curriculum. This CCIE lab kit will still cover between 80 and 90% of the topics on the test for 20% of the cost of the Platinum lab kit. This is a great solution if you are super tight on money and you are willing to give up a few features so you can complete your CCIE certification as we had to remove some of the Cisco 3640 routers. Keep in mind you will still have the same number of Cisco routers and Cisco switches as the Platinum lab kit, you will just have some lower end routers and switches that will not support every feature the top of the line kit will. Then after you pass your CCIE certification test, you can go back and purchase the Platinum kit once you are making the big money!

How to Build Your Cisco CCNP Lab

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:05:14 -0800

The Cisco CCNP lab is one of the most difficult labs to build because it touches on so many different pieces of equipment. When you are building your Cisco CCNA lab, it is pretty easy as three Cisco router and three Cisco switches will put you in a pretty good position at a pretty reasonable price. Definitely a lot less then the price of attending a Cisco CCNA training class and you get to keep the equipment to practice on for as long as you like. When building a Cisco CCIE lab, you concentrate on one particular discipline such as CCIE Security, Voice, Service Provider, Storage or Routing and Switching so you only have to purchase Cisco equipment for that area of expertise.

Now with building your Cisco CCNP lab, you have to cover four different modules which encompass many different networking technologies. The modules are BSCI(Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks) which is basically advanced routing concepts extending everything you learned in your Cisco CCNA training to the next level. So this module requires a plethora of Cisco routers to complete most of these CCNP labs. BCMSN(Building a Cisco Multilayer Switched Network) which also extends on what you learned in your CCNA training from a Cisco Switching perspective adding in new concepts such as Layer 3 switching and QoS to a greater degree. This module really gets into the nitty gritty of Cisco Switching and thus requires some of the higher end, more expensive switches that are capable of Layer 3 switching.

Additionally in a perfect scenario, you will need multiple of these Cisco switches to complete your labs and really get the full experience of the topics. Next we have ISCW(Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks) which covers how to expand your current enterprise network to remote sites and teleworkers with a focus on configuring VPN client access and securing the remote access methods. Many of these concepts can be accomplished on the Cisco routers you purchased for your BSCI module, but the possibility of adding in a VPN concentrator or PIX firewall is nice, but not an absolute requirement if you are on a tight budget. Finally the last CCNP module is ONT(Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks) which focuses on how to get the most out of your existing network by prioritizing your traffic utilizing QoS.

Much of this is applied to voice packets which is time sensitive packets that require QoS attention. In this module you will also be reviewing basic wireless security setups. So much of the QoS items will be exercised on the Cisco routers you purchased for the BSCI track and the Cisco switches you already purchased for the BCMSN track. So now you see that to a large degree, you will be able to use the equipment in the first two modules to support the concepts in the last two modules. We try to strike a balance between the amount of equipment, price of the equipment and labs that can be performed as most people do not have the budget to go out and spend $30,000 to cover every single concept that is presented in the Cisco CCNP curriculum. So that is what makes it so difficult to build a Cisco CCNP lab at a reasonable price.

CCNP Lab Approach

Now that you have an idea of what you are looking to accomplish in your Cisco CCNP lab from an equipment perspective, let's see how we might approach this. If you are not real strong on the features, pros and cons of the various routers, you may want to review our Cisco CCNA lab suggestions. Not only are there suggestions on building a Cisco CCNA lab, but we also cover many of the features and pros and cons of the various Cisco routers and Cisco switches.

Now if you are only just beginning your Cisco certification studies looking to obtain your CCNA, but are looking ahead to your CCNP, I applaud you! Network engineers must be able to sharpen their skill set of planning ahead of capacity. In this case, you are planning ahead for your Cisco certification career. So if you are at the Cisco CCNA level and are ready to purchase a CCNA lab but you want to make sure it scales well to your future Cisco CCNP studies, well then look at our Cisco Advanced CCNA/Starter CCNP kits. These were developed to give you the best experience possible from a Cisco CCNA perspective with the understanding that this kit will be used as a seed for you CCNP kit. All of the items in this kit will be able to be utilized in your Cisco CCNP lab so you will not be wasting any money.

As with most things in the world, the more you pay for the kit, the more features you will get to play with in your Cisco lab. These Advanced CCNA/Starter CCNP kits are great if you do not have all the money for a full blown CCNP kit now or if you are 100% sure you will want to continue on to the Cisco CCNP certification. But then again, who doesn't want to progress in their career?

Common Cisco CCNP Lab Questions

12.4 IOS

12.4 IOS is a requirement for the routers. Says who? Why can't I use 12.3? Well, I guess you can, but when it states on the CCNP exam page that you should be using 12.4, I tend to listen to Cisco since it is their test and they get to modify it at their discretion! So what does that mean to you? 2500 routers and the normal 2600 routers cannot support 12.4. So if you have the budget, jump right to the 3640 or 2600XM series routers for your CCNP lab. They are the two most economical routers that will support 12.4. The 3640 is a modular router that comes with no built-in Ethernet or serial ports, but has 4 network module slots you can put various Ethernet, Serial and Voice cards into. The 2600XM series has one open network module slot and two WIC slots. The nice thing about the 2600XM series is that it has a built-in 100mb Ethernet port!

What Can I Do With My Old 2500 or non-XM 2600 routers?

Even though Cisco states that the new CCNP exams are based on 12.4, that does not mean that you have to throw out all of your 2500 and/or non-XM 2600 routers and start from scratch. We can incorporate them into your new CCNP lab environment. However you must realize that you may not be able to see every feature work on each router since some of you routers may be running 12.3 and other 12.4. The old saying that you get what you pay for is applicable in this situation. The larger your budget is, the more features you will get. It is just like buying a car. The more money you have, the more bells and whistles you get.

Why Do Your Kits Mostly Have 3640s and 2600XM Routers?

We have included the 3640 routers are they are the most economical way to build out your 12.4 lab supporting IPv6 and SDM. To support IPv6 and SDM you must have 128/32 on each of these routers. Since these are the two waves of the future and they are on the tests, you should be able to perform labs incorporating each.

How Many Routers Do I Need?

Another great question! The more the better! Actually, we need to make it complex enough that we can see routes propagate, DHCP relay agents working, load balancing, route summarization, different OSPF stub types, Frame-Relay, IS-IS Intra-Area vs Inter-Area addressing, multi-casting, BGP groups and IPv6 on a dual-stack router. Wow, that was a mouthful! So more than two or three routers is a safe assumption to build your CCNP lab. We like to see about 8 routers in your lab. You can see the available CCNP labs we offer to review the specific Cisco models. Our Premium kit will match our lab courseware very well. The Standard and Economy kits will match closely and you will be able to comprehend most of the concepts by running the commands on the equipment you have even though it may not exactly match up to the labs you will be performing.

So if you can only afford one of those kits, don't worry, you will still get tons of great experience from those kits! *Note, some people ask to be able to perform every concept that is covered in the book. That is not realistic for most customers who are self studying as this will cost well in excess of $20,000 per person.

How Many Switches Do I Need?

We think four switches is a pretty good number for your CCNP lab. That gives you the ability to configure various scenarios which require multiple switches such as trunking in multilayer switched networks, multi-casting, QoS, VTP concepts such as pruning, creating loops and suppressing them with STP, controlling root bridge elections, multiple spanning tree environments, UplinkFast and BackboneFast, EtherChannel and Layer 3 through 7 switching. Two Layer 3 switches plus 2950 switches seem to work pretty well which being cost conscientious.

What Is A Layer 3 Switch?

Wait until you get to BCMSN exam as this is a cool concept. This is a switch that can also do routing! So no need to bounce the traffic out of the switch, to a router only to have it sent right back to the same switch because the destination is on a different subnet. These switches will route that traffic within the switch and save precious bandwidth and time! We find that in a perfect world, you will have two of these switches, but you can get by with one. This way you can see how they communicate, trunk together and such.

Can You Give Me A General Idea Of The Lab Environment?

That will slightly change as per the kit you purchase. However in following the labs you will for the most part have a frame relay switch interconnecting four different areas in which summarizations can happen.

What Is A Terminal Server Router And Why Do I Want One?

A very nice to have is a 2509 or 2511 access/terminal server router. This way you do not have to keep moving the console cable from router to router as you are configuring them. You can access all your routers and switches via the terminal server and connected octal cable. This is not going to function in your lab, but it is nice to have to make your lab much easier to use.

If you already have your Cisco CCNA certification, the above should have made a lot of sense to you. Also congratulations on your CCNA! You should have a very good grasp on the different features of the various Cisco routers and Cisco switches. Now you will just need to know what Cisco routers and Cisco switches you need to purchase to build your Cisco CCNP lab.

CCNP Lab Kit Options

Well, we have four main Cisco CCNP labs available for you all at different price points. As mentioned before, the more you spend, the more bells and whistles you will be able to experience in your Cisco CCNP lab studies. We tend to prefer the Cisco Press books to accompany our Cisco CCNP labs. Who better to get this information from than straight from Cisco? The Cisco Press books come with full blown labs for the BSCI and BCMSN modules. We follow pretty closely the lab topologies presented in the BSCI and BCMSN books. This is because you will then be able to follow the accompanying labs. Now you must understand that to follow their labs exactly, you would have to spend easily twice as much as we are charging for any of these kits.

So from our experience we have modified the kits with some less expensive Cisco routers and Cisco switches that will cover a majority of the concepts in the labs. Again, the more you pay for the kit, you will be able to experience more of the concepts. Also from our experience we determined a way to reduce the price of the kit was to remove some routers that were there primarily just to make the lab environment more complex by adding extra routers which thus introduced additional routes. Well when we are trying to keep things on a tight budget, we don't see the need to have three extra routers, all the Cisco modules and cables just so we can see a few extra routes in our tables.

It would be one thing if these routers were $50 each, but when you take into consideration the router, the module, the cables and such you can easily be adding $1,000 or more to the price of your kit. When in essence much of that information is going to wind up in a route summarization anyway! So again, we have to look for the most bang for the buck in building these kits. As mentioned before, the Cisco CCNP lab is probably the most difficult to build because of all the different technologies it touches.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! You will be able to use all these pieces of equipment in your Cisco CCIE lab so they will not go to waste! Especially with the CiscoKits Trade-Up program which enables you to upgrade your Cisco routers and Cisco switches you purchased from CiscoKits. Please see the Trade-Up Program for details. But since you have most of the CCIE equipment already, you are well on your way to acing your Cisco CCNP exam and then conquering your Cisco CCIE certification.

Computer Networking-How To Network Your Home Computers

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

How many computers do you have at home? How many of those are in use? Do you have a number of computer users as well? One in the study, couple in the kid's room, one for the kitchen, if you have more than two computers and computer users in your home then you may try networking all the computers. What are the benefits of home networking? If connected to a network, files can be sent back and forth by each computer. You can play music and video files from another computer. You can access the printer and the scanner that is connected to one computer from any other computer that is within the network. You can avail of the best features of the computer with highest configuration. If one computer in the network serves as a server, then you can store important files as back up in the server. You can share one Internet account to reap its benefits from different computers at the same time. Imagine playing Age of Empires or racing cars with real opponents at different computers in the house! Yes, networking allows you to have multi-player games. So how do you get home networking? Networking can be done by using a wireless networking connection or by an Ethernet cable. All you need for Ethernet networking are: - Number of networking cables - Networking cards - A router Once you have these, follow the following steps. - Select the computers that you want to be in the network - Install a networking card in each - Connect a cable to each which will in turn be connected to the router - The router will then be connected to the server - The router will then be connected to the modem machine in order to enable internet access to all the machines - Once the hardware connections are in place, set up internet in each computer by configuring the Local Area Network (LAN) settings - Finally use the router manual to access the password and set up internet connection on each computer through the router So what are the precautions that you need to take while connecting your home computers in a network? First and foremost you need to realize that whatever data you have in each computer will be accessible by everybody. So start by defining the rights to each drive and folder of your respective computers. Since people other than family members who sit on someone's computer can also access the information in other computers, ideally only "read" right should be given to folders and drives with sensitive information, so that someone else cannot copy, edit or delete such information. You can even deny "read" rights to folders if need be. Since you are connecting to the internet through your network, you must install a firewall for maximum security. Install anti-virus software on each computer. Connecting home computers in a network is a good idea, helps in staying connected and also make full utilization of the facilities available in each computer. With a little bit of precaution, networking can only be fun!

How A Proxy Server Works

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A proxy server is specifically used by individuals surfing the Internet to wish to retain a degree of privacy. It is basically something that sits between a user computer and the Internet. When the user makes a request to access a website, all requests are first of all passed to the proxy server who makes the request on behalf of the user. The same applies for incoming data. When data is fed back to the requesting computer it is passed via the proxy surf server. There are several reasons as to why somebody would want to or may consider using a one. The first is because they want to remain anonymous. If you browse the websites via a proxy then your personal details are not recorded by the website you are visiting. The only details that are recorded are those of the proxy, thus retaining a good degree of anonymity for the Internet user. Websites often record several pieces of information about you like your IP address, MAC address, browser type, and much more. What they do with this information and how they use it is out of your control and the amount of information websites are able to pick up these days are greater as than previous years. Using a proxy eliminates this problem and ensures that your personal information is kept safe. Although proxies have lots of advantages, they also have lots of disadvantages that need to be discussed. The first of credibility. There is no fail safe way of knowing that the site you are using is safe and that the owner does not have malicious intent in mind. If this were the case the proxy could launch a virus attack on you and steal your credit card information etc while you shop online. Another disadvantage is the location. Ideally, you want somewhere that respects data privacy laws. Places like the US and EU countries are not ideal. Panama would be the ideal country. Another disadvantage is functionality. If your Internet traffic is travelling to you via a middle man then there is going to be a slight time delay. Also, there is no guarantee that the proxy will be compatible with certain types of websites that play videos and music etc. So, to find a reliable proxy surf server you have to do your research and take into consideration factors like, location, compatibility, country it is hosted in, age, and many more factors. The bottom line is that you are never going to be able to find one that is one hundred percent perfect for everybody. You just have to do your homework and find a trusted one that is most compatible for your individual needs. You can easily find a proxy by going to one of the search engines like Google or Yahoo and selecting one of the many thousands available to you online. There will never be a shortage of proxies and you can easily find one. Locating a reliable one that meets your needs is the tough part.

The Importance Of RJ45 Cables For Networking

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One of the most important accessories for networking computers together, are RJ45 cables. These cables have been around for many years, with some of these used for telephone sockets and dial-up internet connection (assuming one has a dial-up connection these days!). These are basically connectors which are not only useful for transferring data and information, but are also useful for allowing two or more machines or devices to communicate with each other at a fast rate of speed. The RJ45 is basically a connector and allows for the network between each other to stay strong. The RJ in RJ45 stands for registered jacks, which put simply is an Ethernet cable that looks pretty similar to a telephone cable. The RJ11 is commonly used for telephone connections with the rJ45 used mainly for networking computers onto the local area network. The registered jack itself comes with a number of different interfaces, as is notable above. There as mentioned RJ11, RJ14, RJ25 and many more. Each one functions in very different ways but are essentially designed for the same thing which is communication and networking. The rJ45 can be commonly referred to as the 8P8C connector, which stands for eight position eight contacts plug socket. The 8P8C when compared to a standard 6P6C connector, are extremely useful for making clear connections for communication. The 6P6C connector only has six connections and all of them contain conductors similar to the 8P8C connector. One thing that both of these connectors do have in common is that they are both capable of making a strong connection for communication in the right sockets. Often it can be confusing to figure out what plug to use for which connection, therefore these devices are good to help make the right decision for the connection. They are also less bulky and require low maintenance than older cables that were once used for connection. With the connector differences in mind the RJ45 has male and female connectors and are also used mainly in the US for telecommunications. It is better known as an Ethernet connection device, however, it can also be used for other connectivity. As the connections increase, the quality of the cable increases, with many of the cables using a low current and voltage rate. Furthermore this registered jack is far more diverse than the RJ11 that only uses two of four wires. Older styles of connection for communication were not as aesthetically appealing as the cables designed now, as they were larger and bulkier. They were more difficult to maintain and used up far more power than needed. The newer connectors tend to be power efficient and do not need to be maintained.

Computer Networking - What Exactly Is It?

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

What exactly is a computer network? Well it's were you are connected to several computers at once. There are several different kinds of computer networks out there, such as Local area network or LAN, Personal area network or PAN, Campus Area Network or CAN, Metropolitan are network or MAN, and a Wide area network or WAN. You can see there are several types of networks that are available in several different areas of the world. They have different capabilities depending on what type of networking system they are. The PAN, which as the name states is a personal network, meaning it's used by one person. It's when you have a computer, scanner, fax, phone, etc, hooked up to your computer at home. The range of a PAN is quit small usually ranging in distances of 6 to 8 feet. A LAN is usually in reference to a network that covers a small location or a house. Most LANs use Ethernet as the connection. A LAN and WAN are close in what they do, but a LAN can be distinguished by the higher level of data transfer rates. Next is the CAN, Campus area network, as it name applies is a network connection of two or more LANs on a college or other campus, military bases, or other industrial complex. A CAN may actually be considered a MAN, but is most of the time in a much smaller area than a MAN. A MAN or Metropolitan area network is where two or more LANs or even CANs are connected together. A MAN however will not go beyond the boundaries of the local city or town. A WAN which remember is a Wide area network, it covers a broader geographic area than a city, and perhaps two or more counties would be connected this way. Another network that we failed to list earlier is a Global area network or GAN, this is actually something that is being worked on by several different groups at present and has yet to be fully defined. What the basic idea of a GAN is, it will support mobile communication across LANs, such as wireless coverage or even satellite coverage. Networks are an amazing thing that if you think about it really haven't been around for a long amount of time. At least not with the tremendous abilities that are now available to people who have computers in the World. It wasn't long ago when the only way to get on the internet was by dial-up services. Can you remember how slow that was? Wow a friend of mine is still using dial-up and I make sure to tease him every chance I get about it. Someday he'll finally change it. Granted when cable connections and DSL both came out they were a bit pricy, but now it's really cheaper to pay a bit of money and get a fast connection. It's a lot less frustrating now that LANs and all these other networks are around!

How Helpful A Web Proxy Can Be?

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Proxy is actually a server which performs as a middleman among a client, internet and you. We send our request to a proxy server, then the server forwards it to the web and then proxy reverts back to you. There are five types of proxies: 1. Web proxy. 2. Forced proxy. 3. Anonymous proxy. 4. Open proxy. 5. Caching proxy. The basic purpose of any proxy as discussed above is that, it will help you maintain your privacy like your IP address but it also helps in accessing certain areas on the network that might be blocked to you, example in work place, libraries, schools etc. But the web based proxies are undoubtedly the best; they have an edge on the other ones. Web proxies are the most commonly used proxies these days. First of all, web proxies provide a fast track way in efficiently distributing network traffic in real time. They certainly help the users in making their browsing lightening fast and safe too, so it obviously becomes their first choice. The next best thing about these web proxies is that they are developed as such that they can easily avoid censors. Some internet service providers might not allow some users, but with use of web based proxy servers it's no longer a problem. One of the best things about these proxies is that they have an in built feature that makes them act as a firewall. It is always recommended to surf the web with the support of these proxy servers. They ensure you that you're IP, your ID and more importantly you are safe from the hackers. As a kind advice for people who are blocked in attempting to surf some web pages, we might tell them that they should try to search such proxies that can't be traced by the censors. We further recommend that you should rather find your own common proxy port numbers as well as proxy, this will enable you hassle free, fast and safe web access. This is a hard fact about the public proxies that their numbers are not laudable, but in contrast to the public proxies there are ample of private proxy servers, that are available to you in the form of concentrators, gateways for managing outside traffic. So never ever be afraid of hackers when you are surfing through a web based proxy server. Your peace of mind and connectivity quality is 100% guaranteed with these web based servers; you can now rely on these servers for your peace of mind and better performance too.

Discovering Your Local Area Network

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In the late 1960's as large college universities and several research labs gained an ever increasing amount of computers, the need for interconnections that worked at high-speed was great, and the pressure was on. It was not until the mid 1970's that an answer to the demand was created, they called it LAN. LAN stands for Local-Area Network, with the ability to cover small areas, such as a home or office or group of buildings (schools, warehouse, etc.), LANs have higher data-transfer rates, smaller range and do not require licensed telecommunication lines as opposed to WAN (Wide-Area Network). ARCNET and Token Ring were two LANs that were widely used in the past. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are two of today's most common LANs. A LAN is an important component to gamers. By setting up a LAN, gamers can link together their computers and play with or against their friends. Games, such as "Diablo II" and "S.O.C.O.M.", allows gamers to cooperate together in a team while either on line or while their computers are connected by LAN.Games, such as "Unreal Tournament" and "Starcraft", allow gamers connected by the internet or a LAN to work as a team or to compete against each other.Computers are usually linked by what is known as a Cat-5 cable to a HUB; and the HUB acts like a mediator. The Cat-5 cable connects to the back of the computer through the Ethernet port on the Network card, network adapter, LAN adapter or NIC (Network Interface Card). A network card operates on both the physical layer and the data link layer; it allows a low-level addressing system, using Mac Addresses, also known as an IP address, and physical access to the networking medium (the HUB). Not all LANs are the same; some use cables while others are wireless. While other network technology exists, since the mid 1990's, the Ethernet network card has been leading the crowd, due to low cost and easy integration and use. A unique 48-bit serial number is on every Ethernet network card, stored in the ROM; the serial number is your computers Mac address. The Mac address for every computer must be unique; otherwise only one computer with a given Mac address could be on line and connected to the LAN at a time. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is responsible for each unique Mac address getting assigned to vendors of interface controllers; this is so no two network cards share the same Mac address. At one point network cards were expansion cards that had to be plugged into the motherboard. Most new computers have the network card built into the motherboard; some may even have two ports built in so the computer can be connected to multiple networks. Some companies have started using optical fiber instead of Cat-5 cables or USB cords, because optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference. Optical fibers are made of glass or plastic, instead of metal, and carry light along their full length. The electrical signals sent along the optical fiber degrade less during transfer than signals sent along metal wires (Cat-5 cables and USB cords).

Use a Proxy Site for Anonymous Browsing

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

What is a free proxy? A free proxy is basically a piece of hardware or software that sits in between your computer and the Internet. It handles all communications on your behalf, allowing you to remain anonymous to the outside world. You can easily find a proxy online by using Google or another search engine. If you can, use a secure proxy that is hosted outside of the US and EU. This is because both jurisdictions have seriously compromised your privacy and can easily compel ISPs to release information about your surfing habits. This would defeat the whole object of anonymous surfing. Proxies that are hosted in places like Panama, Costa Rica, are a good bet. These countries tend to have tight privacy laws making it more difficult to get at Internet records. Using a secure proxy website also allows you to have an extra layer of protection against hackers. Because you are surfing behind a third party website, the hacker would only see the proxy details, not yours. As you can see, using free proxies are advantageous for sensitive matters like Internet banking, for example. Make sure you also take other precautions. Always make sure you have a good anti-virus package installed on your computer when browsing the Internet. There are so many variations of viruses so it is not always easy to keep up. Make sure that you get regular updates too. This way, any threat is at a minimal. If a free secure proxy is not enough, you could always parting with your cash. They basically provide the precise same thing but will have you believe otherwise. In my experience most of these products are a waste of money. Remember, a free proxies provides you with anonymous surfing. Please do not think that this is a means of evading the law. Do not use proxies for anything dodgy. Always respect your local, national, and international laws when you are surfing the Internet. Free proxies are also useful if you want to get around network blocks. Network blocks are usually installed on school networks or at a place of work to stop people accessing certain websites. Using free proxies can sometimes solve this problem, although once the proxy becomes popular it is likely to get blocked by the network. Try and find a relatively new secure proxy so that you can be fairly sure that is has not been blocked yet. If it has, just keep looking at more until you find one that has not been blocked by the network. I hope this brief article has helped you gain the basic knowledge of how you can use a free proxy for anonymous browsing and so you can protect your privacy. Proxies are useful if you want to protect you identity and to get past network blocks.